A series of edited interviews from people we met on our travels who have interesting stories relating to volunteering, conservation and Central American life.

In April we were invited to stay at the house of the Brenes Morera family, who are planning on setting up a rural tourism business and volunteer program. Their daughter, Cristel, showed us around for the week and took us to a village where she used to live, which was devastated by an earthquake in 2008.

We met Jonathan, a volunteer from Texas, at the butterfly garden in Monteverde, Costa Rica. We felt that his views on the volunteer lifestyle would be of interest to our followers.

In Punta Gorda, Belize, we were introduced to staff at TIDE (the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment). Coming from a Guatemalan family, Marlon grew up fishing and poaching off the south coast of Belize but is now working to conserve the marine life in this area. On our journey we met many interesting characters who had once been involved in activities which are damaging to the environment or endangered species, but who now fight to protect them through giving local people alternative methods of earning a living.